#bilston

Tuning a 'J R Walters & Son' Bilston Overdamper. Straighttrung Uupright Piano in Bilston, West Midlands

J R Walters was a music shop in Bilston.

The Viaduct 

We only ever called this The Viaduct, it’s called the Bilston Viaduct of Bilston Glen Viaduct and we used to scamper across the girders here as bairns, we were fearless back then, the middle section has a drop of about 140 feet. We used the diagonal sections going up and down as slides.  We threw rope we had “found” over parts of it and had our very own swing! What a place for a playground! 

This replaced an earlier bridge that was designed by a guy called Thomas Bouch? Bouch designed the ill fated Tay Bridge that collapsed as a train crossed it in 1879. All bridges designed by him were examined after the disaster and there is speculation that is why this bridge went up in 1892, the first one was less than 20 years old.

Historic Scotland say that there may have been a wooden bridge here before the 1873 bridge was built to take trains over what was the Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway line. The railway lost its passenger service in 1933 and the viaduct was abandoned with the loss of mineral traffic on the line following the closure of Moat Colliery in 1969, the track was lifted the bridge was shut even to walkers with it being boarded up at either end. It didn't stop us using it though!

This is now part of a network of paths criss-crossing Midlothian and takes you over to Roslin. 

Halcyon Days Bilston & Battersea Enamel Trinket Box England Gold Encrusted 

🎹 Piano Tuner Bilston , Wolverhampton, West Midlands 🎹⠀

Tuning a 'Bösendorfer' Grand Piano from the 1980s.

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Dryden House 1906.

This was in the area I grew up, the house suffered from subsidence and was demolished in 1938  the land was the ancient property of the Dryden family, they are said to have descended from the "Dridens" The most notable of whom has Robert de Driden chaplain to king James II but the name dates back further to the 13th century. (You can read more about the Dryden name on the link below.)

The estate was acquired by the Sinclair's in the 15th century, then the Lockharts of Carnwath in the 17th century. and the Trotters in the 19th century.

Much of the estate was lost to the Loanhead Colliery and its successor, Bilston Glen. Dryden Tower is a reminder of the Estate, and I am sure some buildings remain of Dryden Farm, now part of the Bush Estate. It originally belonged to a wider landscape known locally as The Pleasure.

The remainder of the Dryden estates was bought by The University of Edinburgh in 1947.